There is something wonderfully sociable about eating tapas. Those small plates of Spanish meat, fish and vegetables served with colourful aromatic sauces. I love the flexibility of experience it gives you. You can pop into a tapas restaurant for a quick glass of wine and a charcuterie plate, or you can take a long leisurely few hours working through the menu with friends or business contacts.

Salt Yard (54 Goodge St London W1T 4NA), is one of the best tapas bars in the UK located in the bustling restaurant area near Charlotte Street it easily holds it’s own against competing establishments. And again flexibility is its advantage. People have coffee and cheese mid-morning, beer and a few plates of food for lunch, and wine beer and most of the menu in the evening.

It’s an award winning venue and you will have seen it on Master Chef UK – the contestants had to cook the signature “Courgette Flowers stuffed with Goat’s Cheese and drizzled with Honey”.

I recently spent an evening there with journalists and we started with a beer and a plate of deep fried chillies. Whilst these do not blow your head off with chilli heat they are salty and bitter. They get you in the mood for more drinks.

I selected the wine as my dinner guests checked out the menu. I was attracted to the “Pittacum (Mencia, Bierzo 2007)” described as organic and dark with pepper & blackcurrant fruit, herbal and earthy.

Very soon the chatty waitress brought the bottle and it appeared to be a popular choice. The food began to arrive with conveyer belt frequency.

First up was “Fried Squid with Tomatoes Chillies and Coriander”. I must say this was a little too fishy for me. I like squid precisely because it tastes different and this didn’t.

After a slightly disappointing  start came a tasty return to form. “Confit of ‘Gloucester Old Spot’ Pork Belly with Rosemary Scented Cannellini Beans”  – fantastic crackling crust and melt in the mouth moist meat below.

“Slow Roasted Chicken with Chorizo and Chickpea Stew” – a perfect Spanish dish warm and colourful.

“Grilled Underblade Fillet of Beef, Artichokes, Black Olive and Piquillo Salsa” – tender meat and earthy flavours.

A second bottle of Pittacum arrived as the journalists tucked into more fish and some of those courgette flowers. The restaurant was full now, atmospheric and noisy. A sociable way to eat has to be a accompanied by a backdrop of a hundred conversations, clanking plates, and clinking glasses.

We didn’t have any room left for a dessert even though the “Churros with Chocolate Sauce” caught my eye. We all left sated, having thoroughly enjoyed another evening of Salt Yard tapas – the social way to eat out.

Over to you: Have you ever eaten Salt Yard Tapas? What do you think of this restaurant? I’d love to hear your own Salt Yard Tapas Restaurant Review or about other similar establishments. Please post your recommendations and comments below.